Pardew looks for Everton inspiration

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By Matt Davis

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Mar 2, 2013 13:00:00

The Newcastle manager calls for his underachieving side to find their form and "drive towards the finish line" in the same style as the Merseyside club did last season

Alan Pardew has urged his Newcastle team to climb the Premier League table by finding form reminiscent of Everton last season, when the Toffees they surged out of the bottom half of the table to secure a seventh-place finish.

The Magpies have been fighting to climb their way out of a relegation battle since the end of January but the 51-year-old is now looking to build on recent form to secure a place in the top 10.

Pardew told the Evening Chronicle: "Now it's about driving towards the finishing line and seeing where it takes us.

"We might surprise ourselves but that’s the challenge. We've got to finish like Everton – that's how I'm going to focus the team."

Despite an underwhelming season following last year's attempt to bring European football back to St James' Park, the Englishman is happy at his side's progress on the continent despite their domestic struggles.

"We've obviously got the Europa League," Pardew continued.

"We've had a difficult season and I don't think we've had enough credit [as] we've deserved in the Europa League.

"We put some teams out that weren't our best, we had to manouevre and play a lot of young players, and we did well in that competition.

"In all the games we played well apart from Bordeaux away, when we'd already wrapped [group stage qualification] up.